Ever Deepening

Experimentation

How to test such a prediction? First, we have to
simplify matters: obviously, the air exerts forces on objects, such as
leaves and paper, which fly off the ground under the influence of wind. To
test our hypothesis, we need objects that will show little effect due to
wind resistance. Secondly, we need a means of measuring the time elapsed
between release of the object and its arrival at the ground. This requires
that we develop some method for controlling the release of the object with
respect to the intervals of our timer.

Many more such decisions must be made. While
these decisions seem to increase the complexity of our study, in fact
their purpose is to simplify the execution of our experiments. We simplify
and control the phenomenon under study to improve the reliability of our
conclusions regarding our hypothesis.